Weird, so many americans happy that the US did *not* win an olympic bid. How odd.

Obama is human. Had a bad week between this and the "public option" going nowhere.

Banning texting while driving - probably the best thing he has done :)


G&P

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

Even Michael Jordan didn't show up.

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A hall of famer no doubt, a champion as a player, but not a very gracious acceptance speech,

Jordan's night to remember turns petty - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

And not a very good GM.


G&P

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

It was a productive jaunt.

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Yes productive of yet another photo opportunity, something Obama can't pass up. I wonder where he will turn up next?:D

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Originally Posted by paraclete

yes productive of yet another photo opportunity, something Obama can't pass up. I wonder where he will turn up next?

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He moves around and the media follow him. When you are President of the U.S. that's what happens. Would you rather have him cutting brush in Crawford, Texas?

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

He moves around and the media follow him. When you are President of the U.S., that's what happens. Would you rather have him cutting brush in Crawford, Texas?

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That's what has beens do isn't it?

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Originally Posted by paraclete

That's what has beens do isn't it?

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He did it when he was an "is" too.

Most Americans are glad the U.S. lost and yet you guys bash him for losing. If he would have won, then you would say something along the lines of "He is using his fame to win," or some other pointless argument.

According to the NY Slimes

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Mr. Obama was in Copenhagen for just five hours and did not stay for the vote. He learned Chicago lost in the first round while watching a CNN transmission whose signal cut in and out as Air Force One passed over Cabot Strait between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

A sense of stunned bewilderment suffused Air Force One and the White House. Only after the defeat did many advisers ask questions about the byzantine politics of the Olympic committee. Valerie Jarrett, the president's senior adviser and a Chicago booster who persuaded him to make the trip while at the United Nations last week, had repeatedly compared the contest to the Iowa caucuses.
But officials said the administration did not independently verify Chicago's chances, relying instead on the Chicago 2016 committee assertions that the city had enough support to finish in the top two. Mr. Obama, Michelle Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Ms. Jarrett worked the phones in recent weeks without coming away with a sense of how behind Chicago really was.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/sp...ef=instapundit

And even though the LA Slimes reported that the IOC decision had nothing to do with American internal politics .....
2016 Olympics -- latimes.com
......the left immediately began the meme of last resort....the boilerplate argument that it was Bush's fault.

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Though the President didn't mention George W. Bush by name, it was clear he saw the Games as a vital strand of his strategy in rebuilding bridges with the rest of the world which under his predecessor had seen American relations abroad take a hammering.

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Games would restore US reputation: Obama


To me this indicates that the White House is tone deaf . They clearly misread the chances and the Obamas broke precedent and put the prestige of the presidency on the line to seal the deal. If they can get something simple as this wrong ....what else are they misreading ?

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Originally Posted by tomder55

To me this indicates that the White House is tone deaf . They clearly misread the chances and the Obamas broke precedent and put the prestige of the presidency on the line to seal the deal. If they can get something simple as this wrong ....what else are they misreading ?

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What should the WH have said -- "No, Chicago has no chance to win against Rio"?

Chicago had already screwed up any chances they had even before the presentation, plus Rio (South America) had never held an Olympics and was the clear favorite. That's why President Obama's appearance was only a cameo one. Had he not shown up and Chicago lost, the onus would have been on him. Now the onus, at least in Chicagoland, is on Mayor Daley.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/wo.../05troops.html

He outlined his strategy on Friday in Copenhagen in a 25-minute meeting with President Obama on Air Force One while it was parked on an airport tarmac.

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Cameo?? That was Obama's appearance to General McCrystal. He spent HOURS campaigning for the olympics. Priorities?


G&P

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Originally Posted by inthebox

Cameo??? that was Obama's appearance to General McCrystal. He spent HOURS campaigning for the olympics. Priorities?

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Piffle! President Obama arrived in Copenhagen just before the presentation, made his speech, and then left again after talking with McChrystal, heard about Chicago's losing during the first vote while he was in the air heading back to the U.S. He was in Copenhagen less than three hours.

There is a view that Chicago might have dodged the bullet, so look on the bright side there is always 2020

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Originally Posted by paraclete

There is a view that Chicago might have dodged the bullet, so look on the bright side there is always 2020

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No, there are NO plans to bid for the 2020 Olympics, nor will Chicago want to. More than half of Chicagoans are thrilled that Chicago lost. Now Mayor Daley will have to fix the potholes, make neighborhoods safer, and stop the dog fighting. Had Chicago gotten the Olympic bid, only the rich would have gotten richer, with no-bid contracts going to political cronies.

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

No, there are NO plans to bid for the 2020 Olympics, nor will Chicago want to. More than half of Chicagoans are thrilled that Chicago lost. Now Mayor Daley will have to fix the potholes, make neighborhoods safer, and stop the dog fighting. Had Chicago gotten the Olympic bid, only the rich would have gotten richer, with no-bid contracts going to political cronies.

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Oh how cynical you are. Think of the urban renewal that could have taken place, all those derelict buildings that could have been bulldozed, roads upgraded, neighbourhoods beautified, transport upgraded, new sports arenas, jobs for the locals. Now no one will have any interest in doing these things. No the Olympics are a great economic stimulus to any city. It makes people do a rethink

Quote:

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Originally Posted by paraclete

oh how cynical you are. Think of the urban renewal that could have taken place, all those derelict buildings that could have been bulldozed, roads upgraded, neighbourhoods beautified, transport upgraded, new sports arenas, jobs for the locals. Now noone will have any interest in doing these things. No the Olympics are a great economic stimulus to any city. It makes people do a rethink

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And millions of dollars of debt are incurred for payment over the next 30 years... Daley is now obliged to use the set-aside Olympic funds to do all those things he promised, including low-cost housing where the Olympic Village would have stood. The Chicago papers (columnists, letters to the editor) are full of demands to him.

I told you it was Bush's fault.

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Some Chicago officials say anti-American resentment likely played a role in Chicago's Olympic bid dying in the first round Friday.

President Obama could not undo in one year the resentment against America that President Bush and others built up for years, they said.

"There must be" resentment against America, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said, near the stage where he had hoped to give a victory speech in Daley Center Plaza. "The way we [refused to sign] the Kyoto Treaty, we misled the world into Iraq. The world had a very bad taste in its mouth about us. But there was such a turnaround after last November. The world now feels better about America and about Americans. That's why I thought the president's going was the deal-maker."

State Rep. Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago) said she saw firsthand the resentment against America five years ago when she was in Rio de Janeiro. "I feel in my gut that this vote today was political and mean-spirited," she said.

"I travel a lot.. . I thought we had really turned a corner with the election of President Obama. People are so much more welcoming of Americans now. But this isn't the people of those countries. This is the leaders still living with outdated impressions of Americans."

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said she was approached by a consul general at the plaza as they waited for word Friday. "He said ... he was hearing that there wasn't enough time for Barack Obama to dispel the old image.... But I don't know if that's it."

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Darn that Bush, he has ruined everything.

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

Oh, for pete's sake, Eliot. Rio was always the suspected first choice. It was time for S.A. to host the games which have never been held there. Mayor Daley was hot for the Olympics and got President Obama on the bandwagon finally. Much of Chicago was against it. Now Daley can use that money to fight crime and drug traffickers and dogfighting.

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I agree with every single word that you have posted here to this point.

So why did Obama waste his time and the taxpayers' money, not to mention his own political capital on what you acknowledge was a lost cause?

The answer is that he EXPECTED to be able to pull it off. Fact is that the US Olympic Committee leadership did a "head count" and thought that they vote was going to be a close thing, and that Obama's presence could make the difference in the vote. Turns out that their head-count was dead wrong... that the USA wasn't even in the running.

So the question is, why did the US Olympic committee get its numbers so badly wrong? Were they just telling Obama what he wanted to hear rather than what was true?

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The world is much friendlier to the U.S. now than it was under swashbuckler Bush.

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Really?

Do you think that the Pols, the Cheks, and the Hondurans, all of whom have been thrown under the bus in recent weeks, are feeling friendly towards the USA today? Do you think that French PM Sarkozy is feeling friendly towards the USA as Obama undermines him? Do you think that Gordon Brown is feeling particularly friendly toward the USA at the moment after being deliberately snubbed by Obama on at least 4 occasions? Is IRAN being friendly toward the USA? How about North Korea and China?

In fact, can you name a single country in the entire world that is more friendly toward the USA today than it was under Bush? How is that country demonstrating that friendliness?

Wake up, Wondy... the world is NOT a friendly place, and Obama isn't making it any better.

Elliot

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Originally Posted by excon

Hello Elliot:

Why do you hate America so much?

excon

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I love America. I hate Obama for trying to destroy the very fabric of what it means to be American. His economic and social plans disincentivize the very thing that makes America great... the "Protestant work ethic" and the knowledge that if you work hard enough, you can become rich and keep what you earn.

The question is why do you hate America so much that you want Obama to change it for the worse and eliminate that which makes America great?

Elliot

Hello again, El:

Irony is totally lost on you guys...

excon